Remembering a pianist who created a style of jazz all his own.
David and Art #2052 | Dec. 28, 2020 6:45am
I don’t think I would’ve expected an internationally renowned jazzman to have started off in life wanting to be a rancher instead of wanting to play the piano. And it probably isn’t the case very often. But, it was the case once.
This month is the 100th anniversary of the birth of pianist Dave Brubeck. Brubeck was born in Concord, California on December 6, 1920. His mom taught him and his two older brothers piano lessons. And, as he remembered, his brothers took to music but he did not. He didn’t want to play the piano. He wanted to follow his dad into ranching.
In the late 1930s, he enrolled in the veterinary program at what’s now the University of the Pacific but apparently his professors recognized something in him even if he did not. His zoology professor told him to change his major to music and stop wasting both their time. He graduated in 1942, was drafted into the Army,